sanctified from sin without the blood of the covenant Heb. 9.22 and Ephe. 1.7 and so there must have been another Mediator beside himselfe which St Paul denieth 1 Tim. 2.5 there is but one Mediator even the Man Christ Jesus the High Priest who is in himselfe holy innocent and undefiled and separate from sinners Heb. Mathe. But if Christs humane nature came from the blessed Virgin and from Adam he could not avoid the taint of sin no more then he could death Phila. We are to consider as I said before that sin cleaving not to substance alone but to persons and considering that he took no person of the Virgin but her substance which was immediately united to his Godhead in subsistence and only so made a person it will follow that though his substance yet his person was never in Adam and so never sinned in Adam and so never tainted with originall sin For as it could not be propagated by his manner of conception so neither could it be justly imputed to his person which was both God and man And for his death it was voluntary Death did not by his own power prevaile over him but he laid it down John 10.17 18. Nor did death fall upon him as a sinner but as the surety for sin Mathe. What effect worketh this conception for us Phila. 1. It hides the impurity of our conceptions from Gods anger because this satisfieth Gods justice for originall sin for the righteousnesse hereof is imputed to us and by it is constituted holinesse of nature for in this he was qualified with all habits of grace and vertue which by his spirit he powreth also upon us For this purpose he took an humane body because sacrifice and offerings would not satisfie Psal 40. and Heb. 10.5 2. This conception worketh a spirituall life and conception in us For our nature in him being conceived and quickned by the holy Ghost in the womb from thence proceeds the power of our regeneration from him that is the originall of spirituall life in our nature for the spirit that formed him in the womb doth beget us again to live in him and so doth justifie us before God from the evils that cleave to our nature Mathe. He is oftentimes called in the Gospell even by himselfe too the Son of man how then shall I conceive his conception to be more then humane Phila. His Conception and Birth are full of wonder yet may be discerned with distinction for it seems a new creation For as he was the Son of God no woman was his mother and as he was man he had no father He is called the Son of man because he took our nature of the blessed Virgins substance Yet he is called the Son of the most High Mat. 1. because he is the second person in the holy Trinity Which title is given to the nature assumed because it had no subsistence but in his person that was the naturall Son of God In which regard the blessed Virgin is called the mother of God not of his deity but of this union of God and man yet his person was not circumscribed in her womb though the humane nature was But as his body is heaven locally and is in the Word substantially and in the Sacrament mystically and in the heart of a beleever spiritually so it was in her body naturally Mathe. How am I to conceive of the birth of Christ Phila. He was born three waies of his Father of his Mother and in the mind of man Of his Father eternally of his Mother temporally and in mans mind spiritually For three things have relation to his birth Deity Flesh and Spirit Of his Father he is born God for ever of his Mother flesh once and in mans mind he is born Spirit figuratively often In respect of his divine nature he had a Father without a Mother in regard of the humane nature he had a Mother without a Father in respect of his spirituall nativity he hath both Father and Mother i. they that do his will Paul saith God was manifested in flesh 1. From the bosome of his Father in whom he was concealed 2. From the shadowes of the Law in which he was prefigured 3. From the womb of his Mother in which he was covered This was the greatest and the most gracious work considered in all the consequences of it as his death and resurrection which without this could not have been that ever God wrought who for these humiliations gave him a name above all names Jesus the Saviour Phil. 2.9 Which name although others had as well as he in the Old Testament yet they were but figures of him yea the name Jehovah signifieth but essence i. God as he is the author of being but Jesus signifieth God our well being a Saviour then which there is no other name of salvation given Act. It was the name of the eternall Word incarnate it contains in it the whole oeconomy of the work of redemption wherein the attributes of God are united wisedome justice peace Psal 85. mercy and truth This was well called his great work of a woman compassing a man And wonderfull great it was in effect For in the Creation God made man in his image and so earth was honoured but in Christs birth God made himselfe in our image and so heaven was debased In creation God made all without resistance he spake but the word and they were made Heb. 12. But in redemption he suffered contradictions of sinners against himselfe In this work he did both speak work and suffer speak graciously work wonderfully suffer unworthily In creation the Word made flesh but in Jesus our Redeemer John 1.3 the Word was made flesh John 1.14 In the creation God took man out of the earth and placed him in Paradise In the redemption he took man out of hell and placed him in heaven through Jesus the Saviour Mathe. What were the effects of his birth Phila. Many For among the heathen voices were heard saying that the great God was about to be born At Rome a woman was seen about the Sun having a child in her arms And the Sybil told Augustus the Emperour that that same child was greater then he and bade him to adore him He would never after be called Lord. The Temple of peace fell down at his birth because he brought better peace to the world The Oracles were all struck dumb by the birth of this eternall Word Jupiters Oak in Dodona was shaken the Caldron smitten with the rod in the hand of Jupiter The Tripode in Delphis Nazi in Julian annotat Nomi the Laurell and fountain of Daphne and the ramfaced image of Jupiter Ammon could utter nothing so that one effect of Christs birth was Gods glory and Satans confusion But further another effect was the good mans peace and salvation For he was born to bring both to passe 1. His salvation being he was born to be a King a Priest and a
no eternall happinesse God had made man in vain with so vast a mind which no finite thing can satisfie and then there must be a way to this happinesse or else that happinesse is ordained in vain also for man Mathe. Some think it is not necessary to know any more happiness then nature sheweth and dictates to us Phila. Nature sheweth in part that felicity which is necessary for man to know but not fully but as in the wrong end of an optick glass which makes things appear farther off or lesse then they are or else sheweth us a false felicity as in a magnifying or multiplying glasse wherein it appeareth bigger or more then it is all which sheweth there is an happinesse though nature mistakes it or cannot perfectly shew it though it be necessary for us to know it Mathe. How prove you it is necessary for us to know it Phila. 1. Because I have a soule capable of such a knowledge nor is an industrious soule quiet till it find either it or something like it wherein it may find a rest and content Therefore the spirit of a man is the candle of God to search hidden secrets Pro. 20.27 yea even the things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 and by desire a man having separated himselfe seeks and intermedleth with all wisedome Pro. 18.1 2. Because man is made for it God intended him for happinesse For as the world was made that God might be revealed so God was revealed that man might know him which is felicity God sought to bring man to it first by obedience wherein he failing thereby shewing the mutability of created nature God next set before him the object of beleeving viz. his promise of Christ to know whom in God is life eternall John 17.3 and felicity 3. Because man is a future not only a present creature for he hath a soul which will be existent after death in joy or sorrow and therefore necessary for him to know felicity and to avoid misery Mathe. How prove you that he hath such a soule Phila. From our immortall desires to live either in memory or posterity for ever which argueth the immortall nature of the soule though it be deceived in the choise of it by placing immortality where it is not So Absalom set up his monumentall pillar 2 Sam. 18.18 and some call their lands after their own names Psa 49.12 and men desire tombs which argueth a desire of perpetuall life No creature hath this desire but man for things without life desire to preserve themselves in their particular being Secundum numerum pronunc Vid. Scor. Dist 94. and beasts desire the continuance of their kind only for the present time but man desires a perpetuall being included in no bounds 2. Because it hath a kind of infinit apprehension comprehending singular things and universall things and the kinds of all things which argueth an immortall nature 3. Because God hath made a perpetuall covenant with man Numb 18.19 and therefore the soul hath a continuall being in or out of the body else is the Covenant ended But God is not the God of the dead Mat. 22.32.33 but of the living for all do live to him therefore he cals himselfe the God of the Patriarchs after their death Exod. 3.6 so some in scripture are said to be gathered to their fathers in peace though slaine as 2 Chron. 35. as good Josiah But it is meant to the spirit of the Fathers which were at rest and peace with God bound up in the bundle of life 2 Sam. 25.29 among the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 4. Because men undergo losse and crosse and death without cause joifully which were madnesse if the soule were not immortall and expected after death some felicity to enjoy 1 Cor. 15.19 But many love not their lives that they may find them hereafter Mar. 8.35 5. Because God in the last judgement may shew himselfe just as Gen. 18.23 for in this world good men suffer and evill men flourish Psal 37. Psal 71.2 3. so Jer. 12.1 yet it is but to fat them for the slaughter Jer. 12.3 Therefore the soule is immortall that every man may find the justice of God at last 6. The learned heathen did acknowledge this Arist Cic. Tusc 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling the soul the first motion as if it were the beginning of motion so by their letting an Eagle flie aloft when the bodies of their Heroes were put into the funerall fires It is true that the Scripture saith the soul that sinneth that shall die but the meaning is not that the soul shall be dissolved in his essentiall life but in the relative life to God-ward by whose goodness and mercy it obtaineth an eternall felicity Mathe. But how can I prove that it hath any existence after the death of the body Phila. Because it is distinguished in this by all wise men from the souls or life of bruits for the spirit of a man goeth upward and the spirit of a beast goeth downward Eccles 3.21 And again Eccles 12.7 the dust shall return to the earth and the spirit to God that gave it which returning to God signifies the souls immortality Psallus that is as God alwaies is so the soule is subsisting with God for if the soule be immortall it cannot wax old Phocylid but must live ever so that you must denie the soule to be immortall or else grant that it never dieth But the old Chaldeans and Egyptians shall rise against such Christians whose precept was that a man should make haste to the light and splendors of the Father and to seek Paradise which is the splendid and cleer region of the soule Trismegistus confirms the perpetuall being of the soul Cic. Tusc Pythagoras saith as much and Tully from him Epictetus saith we are the kinsmen of God and return from whence we came Plat. in Phaed. Comment Mor. Zill Hisp in Plat. Plato is more clear then any And St Paul himselfe makes use of Aratus in the Acts saying We are Gods off-spring Acts 17.28 But beside Christ gives us greater light in the point John 3.36 saying He that beleeveth in me hath life eternall and to the thief he said This day thou shalt be with me when as that day both their bodies were dead 2 Cor. 5.1 So St Paul saith We know when this earthly house is dissolved we have a building of God in the heavens He doth not say when this house shall be repaired as at the resurrection but so soon as it is dissolved So in the fifth verse saith he When we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and therefore are willing to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord therefore he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ And St Stephen praieth God to receive his spirit But beside all this if we beleeve that any who were raised from death in Scripture
seed Mathe. I pray give some places of Scripture to prove the production and some reasons drawn from thence for many places seem against it Phila. Some seem against it but are not so as Exod. 21.22 c. that a man if he hurt a woman with child and her fruit depart from her and yet mischief or death follow not i. upon the mother then the punishment shal be but a fine or mulct but if mischiefe or death follow then he shall pay life for life Now if this mischiefe or death be understood of the woman this place argueth nothing to the souls production by propagation If it be meant of the child then it must have life and how a reasonable creature can have life without the form of it viz. a reasonable soule I know not therefore the judgement surely was to be made upon the child quickning and so life was to answer for life but whether the soule be not infused before even at the conception is still questionable So Numb 27.16 he is called the God of spirits yet is he not also the God of our bodies yes sure as 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorifie God in your bodies for they are Gods But Eccles 12.7 seemeth to make a greater difference for the body is said there to return to the dust but the spirit to God that gave it yet this proves only the soules immortall estate after death not any immediate creation of it except he relates to Adam whose creation was immediate of dust and his soule immediate from God but our bodies are not so and the question still remains whether the soule be not conveied by Gods speciall concurrence in propagation So Isa 57.16 it is said of God I will not alwaies contend lest the soules that I have made faile before me but that is meant by the generall life of all creatures Beside who knoweth not that God makes us we teach our children so to answer us in their Catechisme because God did it originally and doth it still by his benediction of parentall seed yet we know also that the parents beget the children So Ezek. 18. it is said all souls are mine but that is all persons So Zach. 12.1 It is said God formeth the spirit of man within him which no man will deny but the question is still of what whether of nothing or of the parents substance corporall and spirituall Indeed that place of Zachary intends the first mans forming as we see by his alledging Gods stretching forth of the heavens and laying the foundation of the earth which was at the creation or if he meaneth the souls of men since the creation then by forming cannot â—e understood creating of nothing But you will say that God is called the Father of Spirits in opposition to the fathers of our flesh but the opposition is not made there between God and man or soule and body but between naturall life and casuall correction and spirituall but be it meant of God and naturall parents yet it proves nothing to the souls production for he is the God of our body as well as of our spirits Mathe. But if the soule be of a spirituall substance and nature how can it be propagated in generation Phila. Because it is not propagated after a bodily manner though the whole man begets the whole man for the soule consisting rather of power then parts the propagation of it is by promotion rather than decision nor is the soule so spirituall as to be simply simple for only God is so but hath a spirituall composition though not elementary which the God of spirits can blow up to a flame which kindles presently upon fit matter by vertue of his first word given to the nature of man saying increase and multiply and by his continuall assistance to mans generation Mathe. But generation of souls argueth a corruption of souls and so it is not immortall Phila. It followeth not for the corruption of the soule in propagation is only a mutation from power to act and so is not corrupted by putrefaction but advanced by perfection it is the same as it was but not in the same manner as it was and so the soul propagated is not corrupted nor is the soule propagating corrupted for it is neither divided nor diminished no more then the flame of a lamp is by lighting another Mathe. But if it passe in propagation then if conception faile a soule is lost in the emission of seed for want of conception Phila. Not so for the soule is never procreated but in conception namely when the seed of male and female meet in one together with the efficient power of God concurring with all naturall causes for the production thereof therefore when conceptions faile the soule continueth as it was so in unlawfull copulations with other creatures God not conferring his power no rationall creature is brought forth but the soule remains without communication of it selfe Mathe. But if the soule be so traduced from the parents then from one of them or both and I see not how one soul can be divided nor yet how one soule can be made out of two Phila. It cannot be from one for the seed of neither male nor female alone conteins the matter and form of the creature to be produced but two do make one two in number and sex being united make a third and this is Gods ordinance in nature that mankind should be distinguished into two sexes and by their uniting again the whole kind should be preserved neither is the soule divided because it consists not of parts but powers and therefore the propagation of the soule is not done by decision Zanch. de tribus Elohim p. 2. l. 3. cap. 7. but by operation whereby the same power is effected in another which the soule hath in it selfe yet it is neither annihilated nor diminished because it is a spirituall nature as we understand God to beget his Son and communicates to him his whole essence and yet the Father retains his whole essence And this need not trouble us since we see the forms of other creatures are indivisible as well as mans soule and yet they beget their like without any division of their essentiall forms And for the making of one soule out of two you are to conceive how two in act may make one for man and wife is not only one flesh carnally but their very soules do so cleave together like Jonathan and David that they would become one which because they cannot do they by the assistance of God conspire with the fitnesse of other causes to produce another creature like themselves Athanas de var. p. 16. as flint and steel smote together begets fire which is the next creature that a fervent motion can beget Mathe. When do you judge the soule to be thus traduced Phila. At the first conception no doubt and uniting of the male and female seed the corporall parts whereof although they must have a time to ferment
other Christians but so long as they are in Christs school no doubt but there will be something to be learned Ephes 4 13. whether they be schollers or masters till we come to the measure of the stature of Christ Mathe. How do the Scriptures set forth God to us Phila. By his attributes or qualifications which both the nature of the Godhead and naturall reason will acknowledge to be in him whereby it apprehends him for God being infinite cannot be fully apprehended nor defined by us but his nature is known by way of eminence as whatsoever good I find in the creature I attribute the same to God in the highest degree 2. By way of negation and so whatsoever deficiency I find in the Creature I deny any jot of it to be in God 3. By causation because when I see the creatures I cannot conceive they made themselves but were caused by some being far above themselves and thus even naturall men are led unto God But the Scriptures set him out more clearly to us in his essence and his attributes 1. That he is an essence most highly perfect therefore called Jehovah I am that I am signifying that he is Being in himselfe of himselfe Exod. 3.14 and by himselfe and so is the principle of all beings in whom all things live move and have being and so he is justly called Essence And that this essence subsisteth in three persons Father Son and Holy Spirit who in heaven bear record to the Scriptures truth 1 John 5.7 And in regard of this plurality of persons God is called Elohim Lords 2. The Scripture sets him forth to us by divers attributes by which we have a clearer apprehension of him to our capacity which cannot in any one word apprehend his nature Now some of these we find in the creatures others not for some of them cannot be communicated to any but himselfe Mathe. Which are his incommunicable attributes and what use can we make of them Phila. The first is simplicity of essence by which we know he is uncompounded without parts matter or form 1 Tim. 1.7 The second is his infinitenesse without measure quantity Psal 145.3 or determination of time and place or quantity vertue power 3. He is eternall without beginning of time past or end in respect of time to come 4. 1 Sam. 13.23 He is immutable without alteration or corruption change or shadow of change Jer. 23.28 5. He is unmeasurable without circumscription of place without increase or decrease within and without every place 1 Kin. 8.27 Mathe. Of what use are these to us Phila. 1. If God be purely simple then we know thereby that God is but one and full of all perfection that he is true and sincere in his promises nor can deceive any from which consideration ariseth the certainty of our salvation It teacheth us also to avoid hypocrifie and embrace sincerity onenesse and singlenesse of heart and soule and to strive to be like God only without mixture of sin in our affections 2. If he be infinite then to admire his greatnesse and his goodnesse his love and his mercy and to love him infinitely for it By his eternity I have assurance of an election before the world and everlasting life after it in him who hath neither beginning nor end His immutability cals to us for unchangeablenesse in our faith hope and charity by any crosses or afflictions which are all sent from God that is immutable in his love and promises So his immensity and ubiquity ought to confirm us in his providence because he is a God not only neer but a God also afarre off and to avoid sin because we are alwaies in his sight especially hypocrisie because he is within us as wel as without us and also to fly superstitious worshipping of Saints or Angels since he himselfe is neer to all that call upon him Mathe. Which are his incommunicable attributes Phila. Those whose shadowes we find in our selves as life wisedome will and power which are to be conceived in God absolutely abstractively and essentially as that he is life it selfe wisedome freedome and power it selfe not as they are in us finitely imperfectly and mutably but they are spoke of God for our capacity sake without which terms we can understand nothing of God Mathe. Why what do we know of God hereby Phila. 1. By life we understand Gods most simple and infinite activity by which he doth please to act himselfe and all things else And this argueth him to differ transcendently from all fained gods and creatures which have their life only by his communication of life to them yet not as the eternall Son who hath life from the Father by immanency in him and by emanation from him but by participation John 5.26 John 1.4 not of himselfe but of some vertue from himselfe Therefore as God the Father hath life in himselfe so hath he given the Sonne to have life in himselfe and this life is the light of men and through the energie of the spirit quickneth all things that hath life For as God made the Sun to be the center of light naturall so he hath ordained Christ to be the center of life naturall in the creation and also the center of spirituall life in regeneration by which we come to be partakers of the divine nature and so finally of life eternally 2. By his wisdome we understand and is signified unto us that God knoweth and understandeth all things infinitely and most simply plainly and distinctly at once not successively or discoursively and therefore praescience and foreknowledge and remembrance is improperly attributed to God saving for our understanding This attribute teacheth us that all wisedome in the creature comes from God Jam. not to feare any troubles in the world raised by Satan or wicked men but resolve to endure with patience because they are permitted by the wise God for ends best known to himselfe for he knowes of them sees and smiles at the madnesse of men who like foolish children desire of their fathers knives and daggers which having got they wound others and themselves worst 3. By Gods wil is signified Gods infinite free approbation or disallowance of what he wisely knoweth to be approved or disallowed so that he neither begins to will what once he would not nor can be hindred to do what he will Now this will hath divers terms in Scripture according to the divers objects of it As 1. Truth because he willeth constantly what he willeth Rom. 3.4 So goodnesse because he is willing and propense to do good to his creature So Love because he is willing to approve what is good and to be well pleased with it So hatred because he is not willing to allow evill but is most willing to punish it because he doth detest it So his justice because he is infinitely willing to do right as to reward the good and punish the evill So his
infernall sorrowes as the innocent surety of our salvation was capable of which no mention was made in the Creed but only by this Article or that by the efficacy of his death he did pierce into hell i. wheresoever the cursed spirits have their residence despoiling them of their power and confirm their damnation and to signifie the deliverance of his people from their captivity Ephes 4.8 And it seems to me that David intended this sense Psal 16.10 thou wilt not leave my soule in hell i. in sorrow and anguish nor suffer my body to know corruption All which should work in us sorrow for sin which put Christ to so much and make us to descend in all humility under the hand of God as he did that with him we be exalted in due time Also to shun despair since God can bring us from the sorrow of hell it selfe as he did our blessed Saviour Mathe. But I pray tell me the benefits obtained by his resurrection Phila. It is said Phil. 2.9 that for his sufferings God hath highly exalted him so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confesse that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father Now this exaltation consisteth 1. In his Resurrection 2. In his ascension 3. In his session at the right hand of God 4. In the outward and inward adoration of the intellectuall and rationall creature 5. In his comming to judge the world Mathe. Foure of these I agree to but the bowing at his name I doubt of as I doe also of many other gestures which have been used in the Church assemblies Phila. I know this outward gesture hath been much controverted But when I consider that God alloweth of outward visible as well as of the invisible worship and that St Paul saith we must glorifie God in our bodies as well as in our spirits and that this posture of bowing the knee is founded upon the glory of God in Christ Phil. 2.10 It may be practised by Christians yea Chrysost ad popu Antioch hom 61. and ought to be at certain times of devotion as a token of the same and to testifie our submission to Jesus Christ whom God hath so highly exalted and assigned him this worship as a part of his reward for suffering Theodo in Phil. 2. that by our humility he may be exalted who was exalted for his humility even to have him honoured in his name when absent in reference to his person I know that many objections are made against it As first that all things that are here spoken of have not knees as Angels below and above I answer nor have they tongues therefore shall not they confesse him The meaning then is that all in their severall manner shall willingly or unwillingly be subject to Christ whom God hath exalted by manifesting him to be the eternall son of God So that as we that have knees are to bowe them to the person that owns that name Jesus so shall all others do first or last willingly or forcibly to the same person and his power For the bowing to the name as a word or at the naming thereof alwaies I do not understand the text intends it but that Christians in old time did use to uncover their heads at divine service when this name was pronounced in signe that they did acknowledge his deity Zanc. in Phil. c. 2. against the blasphemy of the Jewes and Arrians who would not acknowledg his Godhead is plainly to be found Hiero. in Isa 45.23 and that they bowed the knee also which the Jew in pride would not doe which in time did degenerate to superstition Yet sure as it may be superstitiously used so it may be irreligiously neglected since that Christ hath said he that honoreth the Son honoreth the Father and that he will have all men worship the Son as they worship the Father and that God hath included his own name in Jesus I am Isa 43.11 and beside me there is no Saviour and therefore being Jesus the Savior he must be Jehovah too our righteousnesse Jer. 23.6 Upon this ground I beleeve our Church hath injoined this gesture as may be seen in the 52. injunction of Queen Elizabeth and in the eighteenth Canon But antiquity is antiquated and the Church authority disalowed and so Gods worship disanulled Mathe. Now I pray declare the manner and the benefits we have by his Resurrection and Ascension and his session in heaven and his comming to judgement Phila. First ye are to know that only Christs body can properly be said to rise because that only died although the soule and it were never disunited from the person of the Son of God though the soule was divided in death from the body of which rising there was testimony enough both of Angels and men The time of his rising was the third day neither sooner nor later And that first to fulfill both his type of Isaac who was taken alive from the altar the third day after he was destined for death Gen. 22.4 which receiving was in a figure Heb. 11.19 i. of Christs resurrection and also of that prophecie Hos 6.2 the third day he will raise us for by him we shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 Againe he rose this day as it were to give a new beginning to the world He died the day of the week that Adam was created and rose the first day of the week on which God began the world by which he enlightned Heaven and Earth with the grace and joy of his resurrection Also he rose with the sun to shew that he was the true Sun of righteousnesse that was to rise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 to enlighten the new Christian world after so long a night of dark legall shadowes spoken of Cant. 2.17 and Rom. 13.12 bringing life and immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. 1.10 2 Tim. 1.10 The manner of his rising was admirable As first by his owne power John 2.19 dissolve this temple meaning the temple of his body and I will raise it up again the third day So John 10.18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it up againe this he did as he was God He did it by himselfe from the Father through the eternall spirit Again he rose by such a way as never any man did before namely as the Prince of life as the first born of the dead as the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. He never saw corruption nor ever was to die any more as Lazarus and others He rose in the same body that was buried Luke 24.39 and in despight of his keeper as the Church shall do in despight of all opposers and with an earthquake to shew how he will shake the world first by the power of his word preached and next by the power of his last
the reformed religion from superstition prophecied Rev. 14.6 which hath been set on foot by the Protestant religion in these latter times The next sign will be the fall of spirituall Babylon which in all likelihood is Rome by the martiall power of Princes Rev. 17.16 17. The other signs will be a generall corruption of manners Then the calling of the Jewes great alterations in heaven and earth but how is not set down But at last shall be seen the sign of the Son of man comming in the clouds Mat. 24.30 but what kind of sign this will be is uncertain Some say it will be the appearance of the Crosse and instruments of Christs passion Lyranus as the spear and nailes that pierced him and the other altogether Others say that a sword shall suddenly fall from heaven to signifie to all true beleevers Lactant. l. 7. c. 1 that the Captain of the Lords host is comming Others think that Christ shall appear with his Crosse carried before him Damianus de moribus Aethiop and a sword in his hand as ready to be revenged on the ungodly that have crucified him and of the enemies to his Crosse Others think the sign of the Crosse shall be carried before him in the clouds Chrysost in Mat. Muscul in Mat. as a testimony that it was he that was crucified or that it shall be the fignall of his triumph against the devill and the world whom by it he hath conquered Col. 2.15 Others say that this signe shall be the body of Christ appearing with all the marks of his wounds about him Dr wilket Calv. Pet. Mart. but whether they shall appear in his glorified body I know not Others say that this sign of the Son of Man shall be his celestiall power and glory with all the eies of the world to him and this is likely to be the sign even himselfe in glorious appearance as Luke 21.27 and Mark 13.19 who names no sign but himselfe Mathe. But how shall men be tried Phila. No doubt but by sufficient law and evidence They that have sinned without law shall perish without law Aug. in Rom. i. those that have sinned by nature without the law moral shall be judged by the law of nature with the law morall and those that sinned in the law shall be judged by the law Beside there shall be sufficient evidence to judge them by for we read of books that shall be opened Rev. 20.12 As first the book of nature and herein the creatures that we have abused shall testifie against us Jer. 17.1 Next the book of Scripture which we have disobeied Luke 12.48 Thirdly the book of Conscience which as a thousand witnesses shall convince us when it shall be awakened which is now asleep Then the book of Gods remembrance for the comsort of good men Mal. 3.16 and the terror of the wicked when God himselfe shall be a swift witnesse against them Lastly the book of life full of the names of Gods children Phil. 4.3 and also Rev. 20.12 yea rather then faile the heavens and the earth shall declare our iniquity and stand up against us Job 20.27 Mathe. What shall be the last issue of this day of judgment Phila. The godly shall have the possession of 1 Thes 4.17 where they shall have First the vision of God which is the very life of the sonle as the Sun is of plants Secondly their own natures perfected 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 3.18 their faces shall shine like the Sun their bodies active like spirits and shall have health without the least weaknesse their souls full of knowledge and their heart of perfect holinesse their company Angels and the spirits of just men Heb. 12.23 among whom shall be perfect love and amity Secondly the wicked shall be thrust into hell among the devils where they shall be deprived of the comfortable sight of God and heavenly glory excepting so much as Dives saw to the increase of his own griefe Also a worm of conscience shall ever be gnawing upon them by a remembrance of their sins with the unspeakable torments of fire unquenchable and the horrid presence of devils of which horrid troubles they shall never find ease nor end so that they shall loath the life they have and shall never find that death they desire And then shall follow the creation of new heavens and earth not in substance but in quality for as the old world was not annihilated by the deluge no more shall this by fire but they shall be melted and cast into a new mold as St Peter doth well expresse that though the inferiour heavens shall passe away with a noise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth with the works there in shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 Yet though all these things shall be dissolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. ver 11. and 12. and melted neverthelesse we look according to Gods promise for new heavens and earth wherein shall dwell righteousnesse In which also the creature shall have a restitution as appeareth Acts 3.21 and 8.23 from bondage to liberty i. from the bondage of corruption and mutation and the service of wicked mens humors not that all that ever was shall be so but every sort of creature that are then alive at the last day which God made in their severall kinds at the creation shall be restored and for ought I know reserved at the pleasure of God as the examples of his wisedome and power in the creation And last of all then shall Christ deliver up his Kingdome to God the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 not his glorious and eternall estate which he ever did and must enjoy with the Father but his temporall government which was delivered to him with all power by the Father Luke 10.22 to rule in the Kingdome of grace by holy means and ordinances by which he having now subdued all enemies fulfilled all truth and delivered his elect from all sin and punishment and brought them to eternall happinesse he gives up this Kingdome to the Father to rule them in glory not excluding him lse but as the Father ruled by him in the Kingdome of grace so he now in and by the Father in the Kingdome of glory for ever Amen The end of the first Part. A CHRISTIAN DIALOGVE between PHILALETHES and MATHEIES Part 2. Mathetes CHrist being thus plainly set forth in the Old Testament how came the Jewes not to beleeve upon him Phila. 1. By their own hardnesse of heart not beleeving the Prophets but also persecuting of them and refusing to hear them Jer. 6.17 2. By the just judgement of God who therefore laid a stumbling block before upon which the father and the sons fell together ver 21. And Christ became to them a stumbling and a rock of offence for though Isaiah had foretold them that he should be as a root out of a
by the spirit of God ver 28. by which they were convinced both what and from whence he was Joh. 7.28 Again this sin must be continued in without remorse which sometimes maketh men despair of mercy when they reflect upon the greatnesse of their sins which men may doe though they never committed this sin yet this sin is continued unto death as appeared in Julian the Apostate without any repentance and therefore is called the sin unto death 1 John 5.16 and the sin unpardonable by our Saviour Mat. 12.13 not because it exceeds Gods mercy or the merits of Christ but because it prevents and disappoints the application of them for want of faith and repentance they having apostated in their very heart which is the place where faith and charity should be rooted although they do not alwaies shew it outwardly Heb. 3.12 Mathe. How may one be sure to escape this sin Phila. First let him examine himselfe whether he have the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.9 and we may know it by its lusting against the flesh and making our heart to rise against sin Gal. 5.17 Next it begets in us a pleasant taste of things that are of a spirituall nature for of our selves we have spirituall foul palates like people in feavers Rom. 8.5 that makes them distaste what is good Next it stirs us up to mortifie sin and all evill concupiscence Rom. 8.13 and then it gives us victory over sin by making us free from the law of sin by the law of the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 so that the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Rom. 8.10 by which the heart is circumcised as well as the outward man or the outward manners Rom. 8.29 Beside this spirit doth transform us into the image of holinesse from one glorious grace to another as he hears them related in Gods word wherein we behold the glory of God 2 Cor. 3.18 also it makes us glorifie God in the very fires of affliction because his love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 and when a man findeth that he hath the Holy Ghost then let him beware of those sins that are forerunners of this As first the forsaking of that means by which they were once enlightned as the Jewes did the ministry of John the Baptist who was a burning and a shining light and for a while they rejoiced in his light but after fell away So take heed of affecting mens praises more then Gods and of a common alienation of the mind from goodnesse and of evill actions without temptations of envy at godly men and misinterpretations of their good words and works If they have any sense of these sins break off the course of them lest you proceed to the contempt of the operation of this good spirit but rather behave themselves as those that partake of the spirit Gal. 5.25 by bringing forth the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 as love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance c. by which they are known to be his Church Mathe. What mean you by the Church Phil. This word Church is to be considered nominally locally and personally The word or name Ecclesia the Church was used among the Athenians for an assembly of Citizens called together out of the common multitude by name by a publick Crier to hear the decrees of the Senate which word is used by the Apostle to signifie the Church Christian which also signifieth a company of people called together by the voice of Gods ministers out of the rude world and kingdome of Satan to hear the Gospell revealed from Heaven But the word Church is derived of the Greek word that signifieth Lord from which word Kyriake or Kyrios Lord comes the Scotch word Kirk and our word Church 2. This word is taken for a place of holy assemblies to meet in about the service of God so 1 Cor. 11.18 when you come together in the Church which though not it may be such as ours is yet being a place set apart for such an use he cals it the Church And such places the Christians had from the Primitive times which being the place that conteined those that were the living Churches of God namely faithfull Christians the place so conteining in a figurative form of speech Aug. Q. 57. in Levit. is called by the name of the people contained therein which ancient writers have not feared to call holy places in regard of their separation to holy uses and therefore as Christ did not allow common things to be set or carried through the Temple so the ancients did not like that holy services that concerned generall meetings should be done in common places or houses Basil in Rug. comp explic Q. respo 310. except dedicated to holy uses urging that in 1 Cor. 11. to forbid common eating in the Church and the holy banquet in a private house That the word Church hath been used for place it appears by all that have anciently written on the 1 Cor. 11. or commented thereupon Sedul Com. Ciâ—yâ—ost Theodo And indeed there were such places from the beginning of the Gospels reception even from the time of the Apostles to the Emperor Constantines time Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three hundred years after Christ though they were no stately structures but at first some upper rooms in houses which some devout Christians dedicated to divine worship Bede de locit sanct â—â— 3. c. 3. the first of which was thought to be that upper chamber where Christ kept his last supper and where the holy spirit descended upon the Apostles where they had assembled before and where Christ had twice appeared to them on the first daies of the week John 20. In this place it seems the Apostles met often upon weighty occasions as in the choice of the seven Deacons Hieron Ep. 27. and there was the first Councill held about circumcising the Gentiles Acts 15.6 And this place some called the chamber of Sion and the upper Church of the Apostles Cyril Hieroso which place seemed to be sufficiently consecrated by the presence of Christ in the celebration of the holy mystery of his Sacrament Psal 50.2 so that from Sion God appeared in perfect beauty and the Gospel went forth from Sion as the Law from Sinai And we need not make doubt of this when we consider how men sold their possessions and then laied them down at the Apostles feet who no doubt with such money would purchase some place for Christian-assembly and rather this then any other being first sanctified by Christs institution of his last supper there and therefore some take this place for that house where the Apostles sate together when the Holy Ghost fell upon them Acts 2.2 and indeed we read not of any place more likely for their convention than there where their Master and our Lord
will their law and Gods word their rule otherwise whereas they might be the balm of the Church they prove her bane as many have done namely the second Nicen Synod and that of Constance and the Roman under Innocent the third and many others so that the outward communion of the Church hath been often dissolved though the inward hath and must hold among the faithfull Mathe. I desire to know what the Communion of Saints is Phila. The participation of those benefits to which the Saints only have a right in common and this communion they have with God and of his benefits among themselves That they have a communion with God you may see 1 John 1.3 7. by which we have a connexion and union with him by love of him towards us and our love to him and his word and service and so as it were cohabiting and dwelling one in and with another Iohn 14.23 as a father with his children by providence children with their father by a loving obedience And this communion is express in Scripture particularly with the blessed Trinity As first with the father by being made his sons 1 Iohn 3.1 through Christ by faith Iohn 1.12 and by the vertue of the Holy Ghost who leadeth us into all saving truth Iohn 16.13 and testifieth to us that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 17. For as the Father by his love to us draweth us to Christ Iohn 6.44 so Christ dwels in our heart by faith Eph. 3.12 and the spirit acteth and perfecteth this union and communion by his operation through his spirituall graces Rom. 8.14 Therefore as God the Father hath given us his Son so his Son hath united our nature to himselfe by an union indissoluble as a body and members to the head 1 Cor. 12.12 So the Holy Ghost doth combine him and the Saints by a true and reall union and communion of his substance not by his body being in ours or ours in his but as the branches are in the vine which though differing in sight yet agree in connexion communication and assimulation By this spirit we have communion with Christs divine nature because it dwels in us and conforms us to it selfe 2 Pet. 1.4 and also with his human nature as children are partakers of the same flesh blood Heb. 2.14 yea of the same spirit 1. Cor. 6.17 and of his sufferings also Rom. 8.17 that we may be glorified with him For by the union we have with Christ is obtained all the benefits of his birth death resurrection and ascension spoken of before together with all the blessed effects thereof wronght in us as free justification regeneration adoption and freedome from sin satan and the sinfull world with all the consequents thereof which is remission of sin resurrection of our bodies and life eternall all which is sealed to us by the two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper by both which we have communion with Christ for all that are baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 and the cup of blessing and the sacramentall bread is the blood and body of Christ to faith 1 Cor. 10.16 Mathe. What need was there of two Sacraments since both of them have relation to the death of Christ Phila. He that did first institute them knew best the reason of appointing two and the Scripture which is the expresse mind of Christ sets forth baptisme to us as the Sacrament of initiation or entrance or first grafting into Christ and his mysticall body the Church The other as the Sacrament of sustentation by which we are with the word nourished up to life eternall Therefore St Paul Rom. 6.5 cals baptisme a planting into the similitude of Christs death and Rom. 11.17 he saith the Gentiles were grafted into the true olive which no doubt was at first by the word of faith preached and baptisme received And the Sacrament of the communion is represented to us as food to which Christ had some respect John 6.55 saying my flesh is meat indeed though he explains it afterward in a spirituall sense ver 63. saying the spirit quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing It is true that there is no clear analogy between grafting and washing except we consider the subject of that Sacrament in divers respects 1. As a wild tree and so by baptisme one is said to be grafted because it is a means ordained for our admittance into the stock 2. If we consider man as a polluted infant in birth naturall so washing is proper Ezek. 16.4 5. and therefore baptisme is called the washing of regeneration or the new birth and differs as much from the other Sacrament in the thing signified as in the sign for the sign of one is water of the other wine So the thing signified in the one is the all-cleansing spirit of God John 3.5 which in effectuall baptisme operates with the water the thing signified by the other is the all-cleansing blood of Christ not but that both are in both the blood of Christ concurring with baptisme through the efficacy of it though not signified by it and the Holy Ghost in the communion by his powerfull operation conveying the efficacy of his body and blood to every beleever Mathe. Though Baptisme be but the Sacrament of entrance yet there be many tender minds who cannot comfortally bring children to it as there be many being fearfull of their own unworthiness and to partake with such as are not fit as they suppose to abstain from the Lords Table I pray therefore to help me therein that I being strengthened I may comfort others Phil. First I know no reason why any Christians should doubt of bringing their children to baptisme for the reasons I have already shewed But beside if Christ did admit children that were carried in peoples arms to his person for a blessing Luke 18.15 no doubt they may be admitted to baptisme where his blessing is to be expected especially there being no other ordinance appointed whereby we may bring children to him but this and that we find no prohibition in Scripture against it And whereas some say they may not because they have not faith they cannot prove they have none because Christ saith there be little ones that beleeve in him Greg. Decret lib. 3. cap. â— de baptis Nor can they prove that none may be baptized that beleeve not for Simon Magus was If they say that he made a confession of it I say they may make a better confession and profession by their parents and witnesses than he did by himselfe Or if there were a Text containing these words he that beleeveth not shall not be baptized would discreet men think it meant only of those that could hear and understand and not of Infants who cannot understand no more then that place of St Mark 16.16 includes infants damnation where Christ saith he that beleeveth not shall be damned And what forbids us to beleeve that being God worketh without means upon
of base mettall are made valuable by the power of Kings and a small piece of parchment by law enabled to convey an inheritance The elements are mean and poor the better to resemble him that had neither form nor beauty in his passion and also to set forth his power who can do wonders and miracles by weak means yet they be doubled to confirm our comfort and they be the elements of our sustentation to present to us his vertue by which the soule is nourished to everlasting life Next we are to consider what relation the actions of Christ in the consecration hath to himselfe and of the receiver to Christ namely in that he eateth and drinketh the Sacrament The actions of Christ in his consecration of the elements to a sacramentall use are First his taking and blessing of the elements Luke 22.19 20. There is another cup named in the 17 verse which was only the cup of thanksgiving used by the Jewes in all their solemn feasts But this was the cup of blessing 1 Cor. 10.16 the cup of the New Testament in his blood which blessing caused it to cease from being a common drink and to become sacramentall signifying that he took our nature and sanctified it to undertake the work of redemption and yet altered not the elements in their nature but use not in their substance but efficacy no more then he altered the nature of man by taking it into the deity though he advanced it in quality above the common capacity of humane nature So he brake it Aug. tom 8. in Psal tom 9. tract 7. in Ep. Johannis to shew what violence should be used to his body and poured out the wine to set forth the effusion of his blood So he gave it to his disciples to shew that he freely bestowed himselfe upon the Church with all his merits Secondly we are to consider in the actions of the receiver what relation they have to Christ Their action is taking eating drinking Taking shewes the beleevers hand of faith apprehending Christ Then he eats and drinks the Sacrament to signifie the benefit we get by Christ whose precious death is exhibited to us in the Sacrament and proves to us either like physick to prevent evill or to purge us of it 1 John 1.7 or else is like ordinary food to sustain us or like dainty meat to refresh and restore us Again it is eaten and drunk to shew that he is like meat without which we cannot live and after which we should most earnestly long and eagerly desire as hungry men do after victuals as also to shew what conformity our spirituall stomack hath with Christ for as that which we eat is retained if it agree with our stomack else it is repelled so if our stomacks spirituall do agree with Christ we retaine him because he agreeth with it and pleaseth it and contents it which the world doth not Beside it is eaten and drunk to shew that Christ must incorporate with us not that we turn him into our nature as we do other meat but by our receiving him he turneth our nature to his likenesse as leaven doth turn the bread into its own likenesse the bread doth not turn it and in this respect the Kingdome of God is like a leven Mat. 13. By this is also set forth that rare union that we have with Christ he concorporating himselfe with us by faith in a wonderfull manner Aug. Ep. 23. Aug. in tract 26. in Joh. for though we eat him not with our mouth yet we do by our mind Therefore Christ said take eat this is my body which indeed is not his body till it be eaten nor then his naturall but his sacramentall body which men feed on by faith and not by sense by which faith Christ is there present to every beleever and that not only by his infinite and unlimited presence by which he filleth all places nor by that reall presence which the Lutherans imagine as if Christs body did partake of the incommunicable properties of the deity such as ubiquity by which they beleeve Christ to be in or under the elements nor is Christ present in the Sacrament by the change of the elements into his body as the papists hold A strange opinion to make Christ subject to orall eating and gutterall swallowing and to make God do things not only contrary to nature which all men grant he can but things contrary in nature which he cannot do because that implieth a contradiction As we read that God made the Sun and Moon stand still it was contrary to nature But he never did nor never will make the Sun to stand and go at one and the same instant so neither make Christs body infinite like the deity to be every where at one time Nor certainly will he so far debase the body of Christ as to make it a generall food for all in the Sacrament which was intended only for the spirituall nourishment of the faithfull And farther Christ is present energetically i. by vertue and power so he is among those that are gathered together in his name by the working of his holy spirit but in the Sacrament he is relatively present as being represented thereby as Kings are in their officers of State whose act is counted as the Kings own though he be personally present in his Court only Amb. de Incar cap. 5. So when his body was in the grave his vertue wrought from heaven to quicken it so now his body though in heaven yet his power worketh in every faithfull receiver as the Sun enlightneth the eie though the body of the Sun be in heaven Again our eating and drinking the Sacrament must intimate to us that as food makes a uniting continue between soule and body so doth the Sacrament between Christ and us by faith and as food doth more strongly unite one member to another so doth the Sacrament one member mysticall of Christ to another by love because we being many are one bread and one body being all partakers of that one bread and as by one spirit we are all baptized into one body so we all have been made to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 that so we having all one food of life so we be of one mind and souse and one affection which is the spirit of life Moreover by partaking of this Sacrament by eating and drinking is sealed to us our right to the covenant of grace as sure as that which we eat is our own and concorporated with us Therefore it is the duty of a communicant to consider how he understands the end of the Sacrament and the effects of it that so he may not receive only but perceive the Lords body and so do it in remembrance of him In which duty it is required that we remember his death and the benefits thereof which not being done the Sacrament is slighted and profaned because that to which it relates hath no impression in us
mercy because he is infinitely willing and ready to pitty the miserable Jer. 33.11 So his wrath because he is inclinable in his will to punish sinners So his purity sheweth his will is bent to love holinesse but to hate all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit 4. His power sheweth that he is infinitely endowed with efficacious faculty to do whatsoever he will for there is no limit to his power but his will Therefore we cannot doubt of his promise or despaire in adversity Psal since his will is to help and his power followeth his will Mathe. How may we consider of God before the world in which he revealed himselfe to man Phila. God before the world lay hid both in his essence and subsistence yet being a Trinity coessentiall in Unity with afflux but determined in time to shew himselfe to be Unity in Trinity by emanation and by energeticall operations in nature grace and glory the Father appearing as the fountain of nature the Son as the fountain of grace and the Holy Ghost of glory both in giving the earnest of it and then working us to the consummation of it so that God is to be considered absolutely in essence and unity relatively in subsistence and coessentiality In consideration of which subsistency I conceive that the world by these divine persons was contrived the being preserving and translating of nature which nature consisted of intellectuall creatures as Angels and of rationall creatures as men and of bruits as the sensitive of vegetatives as plants and of other entities and realities that have neither of the former faculties Now those things that wanted those faculties of Will and Understanding they needed nothing but his providence to preserve them in being or to change them as they waxed old But as he determined to make natures intellectuall and rationall consisting of will and understanding so he determined that either he must be made absolute to stand by their own innate power which none can do but the Creator or else they must be forcibly supported by his power to stand against the naturall liberty of their will and this had been to stand whether they would or no which had not been an estate competible to an intellectuall rationall and voluntary service requisite to such a creature Therefore the most wise God intended before the world to make Angels and men Bern. Non in tuto sed in cauto not in a secure but cautionary estate not in absolute stedfast glory but in designation to it i. conditionally they kept their created estate but foreseeing that this cautionary estate must necessarily depend upon the freewill of that creature and that freewill would sway them to depend on themselves or somewhat else beside the Creator for happinesse he consults how some of them at least might be saved to glorifie him and be glorified of him This consultation was concluded by the eternall Son of God by an eternall covenant with the Father 1 Pet. 1.20 that those intellectuall and rationall creatures which shall depend upon his grace and favour shall be preserved in their estates as they were created or else redeemed if they fall from it This stipulation is accepted of the Father and he is set as the first born of every creature Colos 1.15 not that he was first created himselfe as Arrius thought but set so in regard of excellence of priority by eternall generation Colos 1.16 and of superiority the whole family of heaven and earth depending upon him for creation and the creature intellectuall and rationall for adoption So Rom. 8.29 he is called the first born among many brethren Now the Covenant being made and the whole family of heaven being created by him and for him he is first proposed to the Angels for their worship and dependency Lucifer and his complices and faction Heb. 1.6 liked independency better and chose rather to stand by their own created perfection From whence arose the battell of Michael and his Angels Revel against the Dragon and his Angels which St John saw had been and would be to the end of the world in a mysticall sense and that in time he should be cast out of the heaven of the Church as he was once out of the heaven of the blessed The other Angels stood by depending on favour and grace and doing to him as to their chiefe Lord sute and service and these are called the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 because God in his Son elected them to be conserved by him These Angels are at his disposition and therefore are said to be sent forth as ministring spirits to the heirs of salvation Heb. 1.24 Mathe. Whether are all Angels of one and the same degree Phila. No for they have divers names given them Col. 1.16 thrones dominions principalities and powers So Angels and Archangels Cherubins and Seraphins which argueth divers degrees or effices Trithem Cor. Agrip. Some learned men have written that God hath committed the ordering of the world to seven chiefe Angels especially as he hath subjected natural bodies to the seven planets in chiefe Indeed we read of such in Scripture Dan. 10. Luke 1. as Michael and Gabriel who saluted the blessed Virgin Mary And St John in Rev. 1. wisheth the Church welfare and peace from the seven spirits before Gods throne which doth not lead us to worship them but only that we may wish health to the Church from God Drus Beza Not. in N. T. and all the instruments he useth to that purpose Mathe. What determined God of man before the world Phila. Surely as the Son of God did stipulate with the Father to be the conservator of Angels so also that he would redeem mankind if he fel. This was the mystery hid from ages Col. 1.26 and Rom. 16.25 from the beginning of the world performed toward the end of the world when Christ in due time died for the ungodly which St Paul tels Titus was the hope of eternal life Tit. 1.2 which God who cannot lie hath promised before the world began If you ask to whom God could then promise it I say it was promised reciprocally of the Father to the Son by acceptation of the Sons offer of himselfe to satisfie for those that were elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.1 Mathe. What use may we make of this knowledge Phila. To labor to know God who knew us before we were and gave us so full a perfection in Adam as a creature was capable of and foreseeing that we being left in the hands of our own will we would chuse our own way yet he before the world by an eternall covenant with his blessed Son in his bosome ordained a means to save us by a full and plenteous redemption that so if we could not be happy by obeying yet we might by beleeving if not by justice yet by mercy if not by our deserts yet by Christs merits by
many as the beauty of Absalom the swiftnesse of Asahel the proportion of Eliab the son of Jesse So that his body exceeded others no doubt as much as Gods tables exceeded Moses workmanship and as Christs miraculous wine exceeded the naturall at the wedding But yet mens are exceeding the creatures in posture shape and compact and in being an epitome of the whole world Also because many of the better sort of creatures and parts of the Fabrick are set forth by the parts of man as the finest gold likened to his head cant 5.11 the purest wheat to his kidnies Deut. 32.14 and the center of the world in which all the lines of the circumference meets is called by the name of his heart Mat. 12.40 Again all manner of measures are taken from the dimensions of his body as the inch foot palm cubit Beside God hath expressed his attributes by the parts of mans body as head hand heart ear eie mouth foot Lastly because it pleaseth God to make it his Temple and also Christ to take it into the divine Nature an honour not vouchsafed to Angels This was Gods love to him that he made last as if when he had made man he had left nothing more to do but to make himselfe man O Lord what is man that thou shouldst so honour him Mathe. What are the most considerable parts of his body Phila. Every part is considerable but Gods wisdome is admirable in all as in making some members radicall and some officiall in great variety and yet in sympathy one with another The radicall is the Liver for the naturall spirits the Heart for the vitall and the Brain for the animall The officiall members are inward or outward the inward as the Veins to convey the naturall spirits the Arteries to convey the vitall and the Sinews to convey the animall spirits The outward are the eie ear hand and foot all which work for the body as well as the mouth eats and stomack digests for the good of the body And for all they be divers yet are they sympatheticall and helpers one of another For as one feels the other grievs or joies so do they one assist and supply in the defect of another as the blind mans eies are in his fingers and the deafe mans eares are in his eies yet none can say to the other I have no need of thee This teacheth both sympathy and unity in the body politick and mysticall and order too not to intrude one upon anothers office but to supply and help as need requireth Mathe. What usefull contemplation may one make of the other particular members that I may the more glorifie God and esteem more preciously of every part Phila. When I consider the head I look upon it as a most excellent part because God hath placed all the sences there and but one sence all the body over beside and that is feeling 2. That it is super-eminent in office as place and directeth the whole body and is the most honourable part and therefore we uncover it when we give honour and worship to any as our reason doth lead us and therefore the name Head is given to that which is eminent and chiefe as Deut. 28.24 thou shalt be the head and Psal I will make thee that is Christ the head of the heathen Eph. 5.23 1 Cor. 11.23 So Christ is the head of the Church the man is the head of the wife and the head of Christ is God So the eies though two for ornament and for the help of each other in case one should be deficient yet they look both but upon one object at once because both the optick nerves meet in one to teach us when we lift up our eies to God to be intentive upon him only and not give him a squint-eied devotion It hath a guard of five tunicles beside the brow and so sets forth the care of God to his children whom he keepeth as carefully as one would the apple of his eie Before the fall it let in no evill but now it is sins broker an evill eie by envy an adulterous eie by lust a covetous eie by desiring yet it is not the cause of sin but the occasion and so contracts to the inward eie many diseases as the murderer may be said to have a bloodshot eie and the lustfull a pearl in his The ear is the sense of discipline and the gate of faith which comes by hearing Before the fall it was the gate of life 1 Cor. 15. now the portall of death by letting in evill words to corrupt good manners The tongue is called mans glory Psa 16.9 because by the good use of it we bring honour to our selves and glory to God It is made single to teach us that we should not be double-tongu'd It was once like the pen of a ready scribe Jam. 3.6 to set forth the praise of God but now a world of iniquity James 3.6 It is like a dung-fork casts abroad mire and dirt It is forked in a tripple manner like serpents tongues when they be angry and kils three at once the slanderer the hearer and the reporter So the hand is a most rare instrument that guideth all others The tongue of the dumb who speaks by signs It is the counting table of the ancients and is yet in use in many Countries Of old they used to account on the left till they were 100. years old and then on the right because they were in the years of wisdome in whose right hand are length of daies Prov. 3. It hath been the instrument of divine worship in oaths or vowes Gen. 14.22 I have lift up my hand to the high God So the heathens worship of the stars was when they kissed their hand which Job renounceth Ose 13.2 Job 31.27 Lastly it is the instrument that feedeth the mouth or else we should feed like beasts yet the sloathfull man will not bring his hand to his mouth i. not use this excellent instrument to get his living So the foot is an instrument of supportation to uphold and carry the body and answereth to the affections which are as feet to the soul my foot standeth right saith David Psal And Solomon bids us to look to the foot when we enter into Gods house that is to the mind and affections It also puts us in mind of our morall and spirituall going in the conversing with God and man So Solomon saith the wise man considereth his steps Pro. for the way of the wise is above to keep him from hell beneath because as Psal 116. he walketh before God in the light of the living that every part of a man may be a document as well as an usefull ornament if it be well considered of But the breasts of a woman are more considerable then mans because it is the vessel of nourishment to a child placed neer the Liver for the better concoction of the milk and neer the heart to excite
killed him and therefore Christ himselfe called that murther the blood of righteous Abel So though Christ did so many good works among the Jewes yet they would have stoned him and though they could not convince him of fin yet they crucified him whose blood notwithstanding speaks better things then the blood of Abel for that cried for revenge but Christs for remission The next is Henoch the seventh from Adam Henoch and so a sabbaticall person pointing out him in whom mankind must only rest as on the sabbath His name signified Taught or dedicated so Christ was taught of God in the humanity for he increased in wisedome and favour with God Exod. 21.6 Luke 2.52 and was dedicated to God as a perpetuall servant * Arias Mont. Pagnin Psal 40.6 7 8. mine eare hast thou bored so the word erithus signifies though the Apostle turn it and a body thou hast given me to shew how his body was to be given as a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Ephes 3.2 Againe Henoch was a Prophet Jude 14. so was Christ Henoch walked with God so did Christ * Cat. Arab. c. 20. fol. 27. a. Rabanus in Gen. 5. Jacob Brocard in Gen. 5. Henoch sorrowed three hundred years for Adams fall and Christ wept often but never laughed that the Scripture mentioneth Henoch was taken away of God and so Christ from death Henoch was no more seen nor shall Christ till he commeth to judgement The next was Melchisedeck after the flood Melchisedeck in his generation Heb. 7.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Council Ephe. He signified or shadowed Christ in his generation name and office 1. In his generation being without father or mother or kindred without beginning of daies or end of life So said because his generation was very obscure nor committed to letters or the Genealogy in those times So Christ had no father as man nor mother as he was God yet the Council did rightly stile the blessed Virgin Mary the mother of God that is of the hypostaticall union not of his eternall generation she was the medium of uniting the manhood and Godhead together but no beginning of his subsisting in the Godhead which never had beginning of daies nor can have end of Being Yet who was this Melchisedecks father is hard to say Some say he was Shem the son of Noah But others say of one Heraclim the son of Phaleg who married Salathiel Vide Epipha and the Arabic Catenam the daughter of Gomer by whom he had this Melchisedeck 2. 2 In his Name His name signified the King of righteousnesse and as King of Salem it signified peace so Christ was both King of righteousness that was his name Jer. 23.6 and the King of peace Isa 9.6 because he wrought it Isa 53.5 by suffering chastisement for us he made peace through the blood of his crosse Col. 1.20 In which regard St Paul cals him our peace Eph. 1.14 and our righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 So that as in his generation so in his name he shadowed Christ also For as Melchisedecks parents were unknown to that time so were Christs in his time for few beleeved his father was God or that his mother was a virgin And as Melchisedeck seemed to be without beginning or end of daies in respect of any expresse account given of it So Christ had no beginning in his divine nature nor no end of his Mediatorship for his Godhead and his manhood making one person never to be dissolved he is a Mediator without end yea he lived while his body was dead in the grave which he raised again by the eternall spirit And thus what was spoken of Melchisedeck respectively was fulfilled in Christ simply and fully So Melchisedeck was called King of righteousnesse and peace in regard 1. That he stood unchallenged of injustice in that time when the four Kings made war against the five Kings his neighbors for injustice and rebellion after twelve years subjection 2. Gen. 14.4 He was called King of peace not only because he was King of the City Salem afterward Jerusalem signifying peace but because he was in peace when all his neighbours were at wars round about him But Christ was King of both righteousnesse and peace radically universally and effectually in himselfe and in all beleevers 3. In his Office he was a King and a Priest King of that City Shalem 3. In Office which afterward was possessed of the Jebusites and called Jebushalem a disordered place after which it being inhabited by Israel and King David it was called Jerushalem the vision of peace and so a type of heaven He appeared like a King by his munificence when he brought forth bread and wine to Abrahams wearry troops Gen. 14.18 Chrys in Psal 106. Isid de Eccl. off l. 1. c. 18. Cyprian Basil Jerom. signifying Christs Sacrament of Bread and Wine given to all the faithfull to refresh them in their battels against spirituall enemies 2. He was a Priest to the most high God and so no idolatrous Priest He shewed himselfe a Priest in blessing Abraham and in receiving tithes of him So he shadowed forth him that was to be both King and Priest after his own order not of Aaron but of Melchisedeck Heb. 5.6 The next shadowe was Isaac whose name signified laughter Isaac Luke 2.10 and Christ was the joy of all people He was begot and born in Abrahams old age so was Christ in the latter daies and old age of the world Isaac was freely offered up by his father Heb. 1.1 Beda in Gen. 22.6 so Christ was freely given of God for the world Isaac carried the wood and Christ carried his crosse Isaac died not John 19.17 Heb. 11.9 Clem. Alex. paedag l. 1. c. 5. Greg. in 6. Hom. in Ezek. but Abraham received him from the Altar in a similitude i. of Christ For as he died not on the Altar so neither did Christ as he was the only begotten Son of God For his divinity could not die but was like the scape goat that went from the sight of men into the wildernesse or the land of sequestration while his humane nature like the Ram that died in Isaac's room was caught in the thorns of our sins signified by that crown of thorns put on his head Gen. 22.4 Isaac was delivered the third day after that he was voted to death so Christ was raised the third day after that he died The place of his deliverance was called by Abraham Jehovah jireh The Lord will provide in the mount so God on mount Calvary provided for us a sacrifice and a Saviour also These were shadowes of Christ before the Law Mathe. What other shadowes of Christ were under the Law Phila. The first Personall shadowe under the Law was Aaron whose name signifieth an high mountain So it is prophecied of Christ and his Church that in the latest of daies the mountain of the Lords house shall be established
rich mens estates and marking them out for destruction by fire and sword God keep his people from becomming their prey Mathe. What are our Antisabbatarians Phila. Such as are against the keeping of any Sabbath whether the Jewish Sabbath or the Christians Lords day Of which opinion was one Hetherington a Box-maker who said not only the Jewes Sabbath day was of no force since Christs time and the Apostles but also taught that every day was a Sabbath as much as the Lords day But he recanted his error at Pauls Crosse God be praised And good reason for though the Jewish Sabbath being but a shadow of Christ be now abolished and we are not to be judged by the keeping of it Col. 2.16 yet the morality of that Commandement is observed in keeping still one day in seven holy to the Lord for delivering us from the bondage of sin by Christs resurrection as the Jewes kept theirs in remembrance of their freedome from the bondage of Egypt Deut. 5.15 And thus the Law by the Christians observing the first day of the week Rom. 3.31 is not made void but established It is true that there is no precept for the changing of it because there was no need for the morall intent of the Law commanded only that one day in seven be kept so that if the Patriarchs before the Law was given by Moses kept a seventh day in respect to the creation and the Jewes kept a seventh in respect of their liberation from Egypt and the Christians keep their seventh day in relation to Christs redemption that Commandement is fulfilled so far as it requireth an holy seventh day And though we have no precept for changing yet we have their practice and examples who had the mind of Christ For the first day of the week called since Christs time the Lords day was first kept at Jerusalem Acts 2.1 upon which the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles Then again at Troas Acts 20.7 in which verse is declared that it was their usuall meeting day And the holy Fathers have alwaies observed it Epist ad Magnes and urged the keeping of it as Ignatius scholler to St Iohn the Apostle his auditor about thirty years the second Bishop of Antioch and a Martyr but 107 years after Christ in the raign of the Emperour Trajan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saith let every one that loveth Christ instead of the Sabbath celebrate the Lords day And Basil saith that when all daies prescribed by the Law are abolished yet there remains one great day of the Lord which shall never be abolished Of this opinion for the seventh day Jewish Sabbath and against the celebration of the Lords day Traskilus was one Iohn Trask and Theophilus Brabourn but both recanted their errors for which glory be to God Trask preached against eating of blood and unclean creatures upon mistake of the injunction of the first Councill of the Apostles to the Gentiles Acts 15.2 where blood and things strangled do not relate to such things prepared for meat but to the barbarous or canibal eating of things halfe alive and halfe dead in their blood or eating any thing that was torn from a living creature therefore Paul saith that every creature of God is good Mathe. What are your Soule-sleepers Phila. Those that revive that Sect in the time of Origen Soul-sleepers in the third centurie of years after Christ who held the soule did sleep in the dust with the body after death because God said to Adam Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return not perceiving this was spoken of the body only not of the soule which came not from thence Gen. 2.7 And also because Solomon saith Eccle. 3.10 that man and beast all return to one place yet they might have considered that he saith also the spirit of a beast goeth downward and the spirit of a man goeth upward even to God that gave it Eccles 12. and that the soules of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord Wisd 3. In the sight of the unwise they seem to die but they are in peace Mathe. What are your seekers Phila. Surely people that have so long contended about truth and the Church Seekers that they have quite lost it and therefore they say there is no true Church nor Minister nor Ordinances yet they expect and seek with Loe here it is and then there it is and catch at every thing but hold nothing like one that leaps out of a boat into the water and then catches at every rush and flag to save himself Mathe. What are your Divorcers Phila. Another sprout of the Anabaptists Divorcers who like the Jewes would put away their wives for a small cause under pretence that he finds her not an help meet for him But this is contrary to Christs rule Mat. 5.31 and c. 19.9 that no man should put away his wife but for whoredome lest he cause her to commit adulterie or another man to marry her and so he commit adultery Mathe. Is there any more such weeds in the Churches field Phila. Yes surely for I hear of some that account the Scriptures a thing of nought both the holy books of the Old and New Testament such were put to death under Moses Law Heb. 5.28 But we live in greater times of liberty I may say Libertinisme The Lord hold the reine which Magistrates let too slack lest these unruly creatures hurry both the Church chariot and the horsemen of Israel to destruction Mathe. I pray what are the Shakers Phila. A kind of people that pretend to have the spirit by fits But what spirit it is that casts them into these seeming or swooning extasies I know not but I doubt much whether it be the spirit of God or of Satan or of dissembling I have read of the spirit of Apollo that used such feats upon the bodies of those whom he had possessed namely of shaking and quaking which being past they have spoken some words which have been received for his Oracles So I have read and heard of Nuns pretended to be possessed by evill spirits beyond the seas which the Friers can expell at their pleasure But I never knew nor ever read in any credible author that the spirit of God doth or hath entred the body of men in any such manner but hath enlightned the mind with sober knowledge and sound repentance and comfortable faith and well grounded speeches that are unreprovable and lead them in a life unblameable But these Quakers their speeches are confused and yet perverse and peremptorie Their lives erroneous not knowing or refusing to use the creature of God as lawfully they may I find them people of no sound knowledge yet despising learning and rejecting Gods Ministers and Ordinances by which they may be better instructed They dare not use their own native language as the word you either because the Scripture useth the word thou or else because they think
he died not for them Not for the good for they needed no sanctification by redemption though a preservation in their standing by the vertue of him in whom they were first called to immutability of estate who was the first born of every creature because he was eternally born of God before any creature was made Col. 1.15 and by him they were made and therefore must hold their estates but yet they cannot be of the redeemed Church in regard they were never captived nor did ever fall from nor fall out with God and so need him that was only a Mediator between God and man of whom this Church consisteth which is one holy Catholike Church built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ being the head corner stone This is the subject of all the benefits which God hath afforded us in Christ through his spirit and is called one because it is the one only mysticall body of Christ and hath but one faith to knit it to Christ and one spirit to agitate it one God by whom it is called to worship him and to be glorified of him one love by which all the members are gathered among themselves and one salvation the felicity thereof and one bond of divine love in Christ toward her in which respect she is called his friend his beloved and his Spouse So it is called Catholike in regard of the universall largnesse of it being tied to neither persons time nor place Therefore it is either ignorantly or arrogantly assumed by the Papists who call their Roman Church Catholike whereas it wants the Catholike extension of it as well as the Catholike truths of it So it is called holy because it hath a most holy and sanctifying head by which sin is not imputed and her corruptions by the Holy Ghost by degrees taken away that she may be presented to God without spot or wrinkle Eph. 1.27 So it is called Propheticall and Apostolicall because she is founded upon their doctrine Eph. 2.20 Now the parts of this Church are triumphant or militant The triumphant is that part which now triumpheth with Christ the head of the Church over all enemies and enjoieth with him all gladnesse and felicity of soule and after the resurrection shall enjoy the fulness of it in soule and body united That the soules of the just after death do enjoy heavenly felicity is plaine because it is said Rev. 7.15 that the soules of the dead were before Gods throne in white robes serving God day and night and because Christ promised the theefe that time he died that his soule should be with him in Paradise Luke 23.43 which Paradise St Paul calleth the third heavens 2 Cor. 12.2 4. And it is said Heb. 12.23 that the spirits of just men are in the heavenly Jerusalem and therefore when this tabernacle is dissolved i. our bodies we have an house in heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 or else St Paul had little reason to desire dissolution if not to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 But yet all this proveth nothing for the Popes canonization of Saints whose memoriall is esteemed of all good men and their examples imitated but we find no Scripture for their canonization nor for those honors the Pope gives them As 1. To be written in a Catalogue thereby commanding them to be called Saints 2. By calling on them in the praiers of the Church 3. By dedicating to their memory Temples and Altars 4. By offering any sacrifice in their honor And 5. Celebrating daies festivall to their memory 6. By setting up their pictures 7. By reserving their reliques to worship And all this must be done by the Pope and none else Bel. de heatitud sanct lib. 1. cap. 7. and 8. say his flatterers and he cannot err therein yet St Paul saith that only God knoweth who are his not the Pope for he canonizeth hypocrites whom he by his indulgence hath flattered to hell in their life time and then placeth them in heaven when they are dead though their souls be in the place of torment This kind of canonization came up by Pope Leo the third Bel. ut supra about eight hundred years since and then Antichrist was detected and so canonization is Antichristian So is their giving to them religious worship which in Scripture is neither commanded nor given by any good man farther then by esteeming them of blessed memory Luke 1.44 or by praising God for them Gal. 1.5 or by imitation of their faith and vertue yea Angels have refused it at the hands of men and Apostles also as Acts 10.26 and 14.15 and Rev. 19.10 and 22.8 And as bad is their doctrine of Saints interceeding for us for there is but one Mediator who maketh intercession in whose name only we expect salvation Acts 4.10 and receive remission Acts 17.31 He is a perfect Mediator and needeth nor requireth any copartners 1 Cor. 1.13 and Heb. 12.2 Beside Aug. lib. 10. conf cap. 42. Amb. de Isaac cap. 8. Aug. in Psal 118. who can insure us that the dead departed have any cognizance of our state or praiers Isa 63.16 surely Christ is our mouth to speak to God and our eie to see him and our hand to offer to him and that praier that is not offered by him is so far from blotting out sin that it becomes sin it selfe therefore the worshipping of Angels forbidden by St Paul Col. 2.18 is unlawfull and the invocation of Saints as bad Aug. lib. de cura pro mortuis agenda since the dead know not what the living do and that true Christians beleeve not on Peter himselfe but in him upon whom Peter beleeved as Aug. saith well in his book of the City of God lib. 18. cap. 58. But worse is the religious worship of their images though there may be a civill use of them for adorning of houses or keeping of them in memory Aug. de civit dei cap. 14 in Psal 36. in Psal 113. or painting of them historically But to set up their images or pictures in Temples and holy places under pretence of instructing the ignorant as did Pope Gregory the first they have degenerated to superstition and idolatry as Serenus Bishop of Massilus forewarned that Pope nor would suffer any to be in his Churches however those logs of which the images were made have better fortune then their fellowes who being as good as they yet are laied behind the fire There was none in Churches in the time of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea about the year 330. But the first painting of Church wass was done by Pontius Paulinus Bishop of Nola who painted the Churches with the story of the Israelites Sunfet in the wildernesse to deter the people from gluttony that came to the annuall Feast of St Faelix But surely he hath no religion that worshippeth an image though the image of Christ Lactant. de errore Orig. lib. 2. cap. 16. anno 300. for we are not to make images of things
in heaven to worship them Therefore the most ancient religious men have set themselves against pictures and images in Churches as did Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus anno 390. as appeareth in his Epistle to John of Jerusalem Epist ad Joan. Jerusal concerning whom see Trip. hist lib. 9. cap. 4. But worst of all is their adoration of the reliques of Saints which hath not any shew of warrant in Scripture nor antiquity but is a meer will-worship Col. 2.23 We find it given neither to Patriarch nor Prophets nor Apostles whose bodies no doubt were more honorable then others till the Church began to be corrupted by idolatry and superstition which they borrowed from heathens and hereticks as Carpocrates who with his Marcellina carried about them little images of silver and gold of Pythagoras Plato Aristotle and also of Christ all which they worshipped Epipha cont Haeres or else from some filthy dreamer Jude ver 8. such an one as Eguainus of the order of Benet an English Monk sware in the Council held in London anno 712. that the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream and told him it was her will that her image should be set up in the Churches to be worshipped It was therefore concluded it should be so by Pope Constantine the first and Boniface his Legat then here in England and so images were set up in England It is written Amb. lib. de morte Theodosii that Hellen the Empresse found Christs Crosse but yet she worshipped only him that died upon it But these images and worshipping of reliques might the more easily be obtruded upon the people after that Libraries were destroied by the invasion of the Goths and Vandals by which means ignorance and negligence crept into the Church Much lesse is the signe of the Crosse then to be worshipped as a thing that either sanctifieth or puts the devill to flight as the Papists say for that belongs to the efficacy and merit of Christs death nor have we any command or example in Scripture for so doing It is true that the sign of the Crosse hath been anciently used by Christians as a mark of distinction that they were neither Jewes nor heathens but for worshipping of it or attributing vertue or merit to it I read nothing though I find it used by the confession of Fathers 1400 years agoe even at baptisme Cyprian ad Demet. prop. finem nor thought unfitting by our modern and protestant divines as Bucer Zanchius Zuinglius and others Nor do I think that daies ought to be dedicated to Saints now in the Church triumphant nor to be celebrated in regard of any mysterie inhering to them nor are they more holy then other daies nor the keeping of them a part of divine worship farther then an holy duty done upon that day extendeth it selfe though I know it is lawfull for the Church by a common consent without superstition or idolatry to appoint certain daies for divine duties as to hear the word of God and to pray for the turning away of Gods judgements Aug Epist 128. ad Jan. and to give thanks for benefits received spirituall and temporall As Mordecai appointed the Feast of Purim and Judas Machabeus the Feast of the Dedication But these and all other festivals in the old Testament was set up for the honor of God and so those in the New Testament to the honor of God in Christ one morall in the place of the Jewish Sabbath called the Lords day the other are Ecclesiasticall appointed by the Church in remembrance of what Christ hath done for us But to appoint Holy daies for other use then to God and his worship or to place merit of grace and favor of God in keeping them In vigilis Ap. in fest com Martyrum as the Papists do as appears in their praiers at those times is superstitious so it is also to dedicate such daies to Saints departed I know that some daies of old time hath been kept in the memory of some holy Martyrs for the confirming of Christians in those places where they have suffered but are now out of use Hieron apud Eusebium lib. 4. cap. 14. yet they then did only remember their suffering and gave thanks to God for their constancy in the faith Mathe. What do you count the Church militant to be Phila. That company of faithfull people here upon earth who are governed by one certain head and under his banner do fight against the world flesh and devill and all afflictions in spirituall armour Eph. 6.11 12 13 14 15 16 17. In regard of which battell it comes to passe that the Church militant is not alwaies in one happy state to outward appearance but as Israel and Amaleck one prevailing and sometimes the other like the moon waxing and waining or Noahs Ark sometime tossed on the flood and sometimes resting on the mountain or like Christs ship now in a calm anon in a storm or a lilly among thorns or a childing woman sometimes groaning and anon rejoicing The reason hereof is that God may be known and feared by his Church as a correcting father Pro. 3.13 who will chastise his children for their offences 1 Cor. 11.32 that they may not be disinherited nor condemned with the world the main end whereof is that God may be glorified in delivering of his Church as he was in delivering Israel out of Egypt and from Pharaohs pursuit of them Exod. 15.1 and from the captivity of Babylon Psal 126.2 and that they may learn to hate sin which causeth God to bring afflictions Isa 63.10 and to serve God more sincerely Jer. 31.18 19. by hearty zeal and repentance Rev. 3.19 also that the Church may give an evidence to their profession of the truth Mat. 10.22 and be confirmed to Christ their head Rom. 8.29 who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession 1 Tim. 6.13 and so be distinguished from hypocrites who in time of trouble fall away not understanding that by the crosse the Church is propagated and by dissipation increased and that the blood of martyrdome is the seed of the Church to whom the promise of a better life is made but it must be expected to be performed by hope Mathe. Who is the head of this Church militant Phila. He that is the head of the Church Catholike generally God in Trinity but more particularly Christ who is the Churches mysticall head and she is his body and kingdome Eph. 1.22 and the 4. cap. ver 15 16. and he governeth as her head principally by the scepter of his word and spirit Phil. 2.13 Now thus Christ hath a kingdome naturall or dispensatorie His naturall headship or kingdome is that whereby he reigneth in unitie of essence with the Father and the holy Spirit from all eternity which shall never have an end The kingdome that he hath by dispensation is that free and voluntary kingdome which he received from God for the salvation of
Dan. 8.25 and the land of Judea the land of Tzeby Dan. 11.16 and Antiochus a man of an hard face i. impudent and minding hidden things i. secret wickednesse hardly practised by any before him So the Apostles did obscure the Emperours and Popes of Rome under the terms of Beasts and Antichrist lest they should provoke them to persecute the Christians before the time For the Beast was and is not and yet is Rev. 17.8 He was in rising an hundred yeers after Constantine and then was not i. even almost extinct by the invasion of the barbarous Goths and Vandals and yet is i. recovered and gets the place of Rome once governed by Kings Consuls Dictators Decemviri Triumviri which some Writers say are the five heads or Kings spoken of Rev. 17.10 and the sixt was an Emperor which St Iohn saith is and the other was not yet come namely the Pope who when he did come continued not long but he was dispossessed by the Goths But then he recovering againe made up the seventh by assuming the temporall power and yet appeared as an eight because he had a spirituall power divers from the former Of all which matters of Antichrist and his ruine one concludeth well in these verses Antichristus eat Christus comitatus ab alto Coelicolis properat Gog Magog ecce ruit Ecce ruit regnum serpens detrusus ad orcum Bestia tum sequitur cauda propheta dein Cauda propheta dein populus seductus ab ill is Veh miseris ter veh qui fide deficiunt Mathe. Though I find by what you have said that the Pope is not the head of the Church yet may I not think the Papists and many other hereticks and schismaticks to be of the body of the Church militant Phila. You cannot justly so think for the Church militant is that part of the Church Catholick which under the banner of Christ her head fighteth or is ready to do it against his enemies the world flesh and the devill and all their crafts and errors and their afflictions in spiritual armour Eph. 6.13 But they do not so not that I think they are a company of men perfect and void of sin as the Catharists and Anabaptists do nor are they such Aug. lib. de heres cap 88. Cyp. lib. 4. Ep. 2. as having never id in matters of faith refuse to retain any sinners in their congregation as the Novatians and Donatists did But yet not such a company as consist only in outward profession and communion of Sacraments under one Pastor the Pope but have the internall vertues of faith hope and charity whether living under the Law of the Gospell yet we exclude not as the Papists do from this Church all that are not baptized or under the examination of Catechisme or all kind of hereticks apostates excommunicate persons or schismaticks farther then they wilfully continue such nor doe we think that reprobates and hypocrites are members of the Church though they outwardly professe themselves so Mathe. I pray make this appear Phila. First many that are unbaptized and but under the discipline of catechising may be and are members of the Church militant because many such are included in the covenant Act. 2.39 as the Eunuch Acts 8. and Cornelius Acts 10. yea Rahab in the Old Testament mentioned Heb. 11.31 and the theefe crucified with Christ and many were martyrs before they were baptized Beside as many have been baptized who were never true members of the Church 1 Iohn 2.19 for many sheep are out of the fold Aug. in tract 45. in Joh. and many wolves within so by the same reason many unbaptized may be members of the Church militant Bel. lib. 1. de baptismo c. 6. though not visible because they may have the baptisme of fire and blood though not of water So we say that hereticks and apostates stubbornly continuing such are not of this Church because they have made shipwrack of faith and therefore are to be shunned by the faithfull being not of their society 1 Iohn 2.19 Yet we cannot deny them admittance upon their returning and repenting And so we account of schismaticks Concil Nicen. cap. 18 19. who rent themselves off from the Church Christs mysticall body and so is no part of it because they break the union of members with the head and one another and therefore so standing they cannot be members of the Church no more then a branch rent from a tree can be part of the living tree or a member cut from the body to be part of the living body So those that are justly excommunicate in the right sense of the Catholick Church and have no mind to return and to be reconciled cannot be of the Church militant because such want repentance and love and peace But because the whole Catholick Church cannot personally or actually excommunicate one some think therefore that whether excommunication be inflicted justly or unjustly one is but cast out of the Church visible or some particular Church Indeed sometimes it may very well be so but if it be done by the rule of the whole Church surely it is all one as if done by the whole or the representative body of the Church because the same spirit guideth any part if they go by a true rule which guideth the whole as 1 Cor. 5.4 and therefore in ancient time Nic. Conc. Can. 5. if one Church did excommunicate a man another Church might not absolve him It is true that a man unjustly excommunicated is only cast out of the visible Church John 9.34 35. or particular Congregation and therefore he retaining his faith and baptisme is neverthelesse a member of the Church militant yea a man justly excommunicate yet upon his repentance is a member of the Church militant and ought to be admitted into the visible Church and particular Congregation as was the incestuous person 2 Cor. 2.7 8. for the censure of excommunication is to such a man only corrective 1 Cor. 5.5 not destructive for though it be said there for the destruction of the flesh yet I suppose that he was not delivered to Satan to be killed but rather that he finding himselfe cast out of the Church which is the kingdome of God and so deprived of the benefits thereof conveied to men by praier word and Sacrament and so in the devils power it might work in him a mortification of fleshly concupiscence by true repentance Nor do we set open this Church door so wide as to account reprobates of the Church militant nor yet notorious sinners without repentance for the members of the Church militant are living stones built upon the corner stone Christ 1 Pet. 2 5. in whom they are chosen and inrolled as his souldiers and are Saints by efficacious calling because predestinated thereto Rom. 8.30 which reprobates are not So manifest and notorious sinners are not of the Church militant because they fight not against sin but subject themselves to it
as by remembring his love expressed to us in his death than which none could be greater being endured for us while we were enemies Rom. 5.8 or the horrour of his death being most painfull shamefull fearfull enduring not only the spight of wicked men but an abstraction of the divine comfort for a time so that never was sorrow like his Lam. 1.12 all which was most properly due to us nor remembring the benefits of his death which concerns us as by it the sting of death is taken away though a stain is left the curse of the law is abolished it is to us no killing letter the exaction of the law is nullified we being not bound to every jot and tittle of it for our justification but our weak performances are excepted of God in Christ because we have a right to all Christs righteousnesse and a just claim in him to all the blessings of the law so that neither the corruption of nature can reign over us Rom. 6.14 nor sin bind us over to punishment everlasting and for temporall afflictions they shall all work to our good and glory as they did to Christs Rom. 8.28 Phil. 2.9 Mathe. How may one then rightly remember Christ in receiving the Sacrament and so become a faithfull receiver Phila. These do one include the other For as faith looks upon Christ and his benefits so remembrance cals those things to mind which faith beleeves so that this remembrance must be a beleeving remembrance that the Sacrament presents to us under seal the benefits of Christs death and passion It also must be a thankfull remembrance for those inestimable favours of which I told you Next it must be an obedient remembrance to what he hath commanded and now God in him entreats us to do out of love By all which you may discern how a communicant must be qualified and in what he must especially examine himselfe namely in faith which is the speciall condition of the covenant of grace of which the Sacrament is a seale Now faith must be considered in the cause the nature and the effects of it The causes of faith are the word which is the seed of it and the spirit which is the vertue of this seed both these brings light to discover the darkness of our naturall estate and the comfort in Gospell light Then next a power to regulate and conform us to its own rules and to subdue all opposition 2 Cor. 10.4 Now for the nature of faith it being convinced that the word is of divine authority it gives both an intellectuall assent to the truth of it because God doth avouch it and a fiduciall assent to the goodnesse of it for our own salvation and as to the Word so to the Sacrament which is the seal thereof which goodnesse breedeth in us a love longing and delight in the holy mysteries Upon which followeth an heavenly and holy effect of faith as to desire and hunger after the food of the soule and a strong conversion of it into our soules nutriment and growing in grace by the strength of it more and more Rom. 13. 2 Pet. 2.2 Next a sympathy with Christs members in their griefs and joies Then a readinesse to every good work and a strong repulse of evill upon which followeth affiance in God hope in his promises peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and a continuall fructification in an holy life by the strength of the Word and Sacrament while we walk here in this wildernesse of sin as the Israelites did in the strength of Manna and the Rock-water till we come to the land of everlasting rest Mathe. I thank you for your patience and resolutions of my generall and disordered queries I shall make bold hereafter if God give leave and you will affoord me your assistance in resolving me to trouble you with some other more particular cases But before I part I desire you since there is such divisions among us to tell me what Church you think most safest for one to cleave unto in life and death and what congregation is best to associate my selfe withall Phila. I suppose you find by what hath been said that the Protestant Church is the soundest for doctrine and therefore hold you to their principles of doctrine as they have been set forth and maintained by our * The 39. Articles of the Church of England Church of England in the time of King Edward the sixt and Queen Elizabeth and her successors And for matters of discipline it is to be wished that some were setled among us for the suppressing voluptuous living and libertinisme But if it may not be had let us be content with the Gospell preached and pray for reformation As for the Congregation you speak of I hold the publike generally best because Preachers in Churches will make more conscience of what they preach then those of the private conventicles or chambers except it be some that are forced to make such places their refuge to exercise their ministry which in conscience they cannot give over though prosecuted much like as the primitive Doctors were persecuted Mathe. But they that do preach in publike some are of one opinion some of another as Prelaticall Presbyterian and Independent Phila. Let no titles trouble you but trie the spirits whether they be of God by their teaching faith and an holy and good life Let men impose upon others or take up what names they please to themselves be thou content to be a Protestant Christian And for mens private opinions except they publish them to seduce others they must stand or fall to their own master And for joining your selse to a Congregation I will give you no advice but only since you have liberty given use it to the best advantage for your soule by hearing ministers of the soundest judgement and most edifying And because all Congregations are mixed it is best to consort with those that are the most pious in their lives and unanimous in their worship of God Mathe. But some say the learned are not the right Preachers but the plain man though a Tradesman who preacheth by the spirit Phila. Surely the learned are more to be trusted for the soule as a learned Physitian for the body but they go by rule others by rote so do these mechanick preachers they despise learning as some do riches because they despaire to get and so they entitle the spirit to their ignorance of which the spirit is no author but the devill and mans presumptuous sins for the spirit never imploied any about his Church but either he made them able by infusion which they cannot prove he hath them or else by acquisition He gave Isaiah the tongue of the learned as well as Bezaleel and Aholiab the gift of handicraft So Christ took plain men to preach his Gospell but he made them learned by the gifts of the Holy Ghost which he hath not done these So he imploied Paul the learned and